Hime
by Sinom Bre
Summary: After the defeat of Beryl, an newly awakened Moon makes the ultimate sacrifice, and Setsuna struggles with the single choice given her as a replacement for their princess.
1. Prologue

**Hime**  
(Princess)

A _Ranma ½—Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon_ Fanfiction  
by  
Sinom Bre

Prologue

* * *

She blinked. Traveling? Aboard a jetliner. But why...?

"Oh, Usagi-chan! Are you all right?! Everything's going to be just fine. Don't you worry now!" the woman holding her tightly hissed.

Tsukino Usagi blearily looked at her mother, wondering why the woman was in tears. She felt her own tear ducts leak in sympathy. Then her ears picked up the sounds of crying all around her. "What...?"

A man walked down the aisle, catching Usagi's eye, and she turned to see a face hidden behind a ski mask, panning back and forth. He held a rather large and imposing gun of some kind, cradled in his arms.

Her mouth worked a couple of times. "What...?"

She should do something about this, shouldn't she? Couldn't she? And why would she think that? And why couldn't she remember getting onto the plane in the first place? Her brain raced under the stress, and flashes of memory beginning to play in her mind's eye like a slideshow. A pretty girl with short blue hair in a blue-white seifuku... frozen painfully in ice. Another in a red-and-white seifuku... again frozen in ice. Dead. She didn't know how, but she knew they were dead. Tears cascaded down her face. Who were these girls? Why did it hurt so much that they were dead?

Orange-and-white. "Venus," she muttered, not knowing why.

Green-and-white with some pink. "Jupiter..."

Red-and-white. "Mars... Rei!"

Blue-and-white. "Ami-chan!!"

She drew attention, and the cold muzzle of an AK-47 Kalishnikoff pressed into her neck. "Quiet," the man ordered in poor Japanese, but much to his momentary shock, Usagi shot to her feet and glared at the man. "SIDDOWN!" he shouted.

Usagi thrust one hand into the air, fingers splayed. "MOON PRISM POWER... MAKE-UP!!"

At the resulting lightshow, the hijacker dropped his firearm and shrieked in a language Moon didn't understand, but she was so incredibly angry, both at her situation and the memory of her dead friends and comrades, the Sailor Senshi, that she barely noticed. Kicking the gun up into the air, she caught it by both ends and twisted it into a rough circle, the stock splintering off the metal. Dropping the useless weapon to the floor, Usagi backhanded the hijacker, lifting him off of his feet and throwing him through the air and down the aisle a good ten meters. He didn't get up.

Moon stalked up the aisle towards the cockpit, giving her victim nary a backwards glance.

Back in their seat, Usagi's mother wavered for another few seconds before falling unconscious across her daughter's now vacant spot.

The locked cockpit door bent in upon one blow and then peeled back against an instrument panel on the second. The two hijackers spun, one bringing a gun to bear and the other shrieking in much the same way as his less-fortunate comrade back in the seating area had done.

"GO BACK OR I KILL!" the first said.

Usagi had never been mad in quite the same way as she was now, and any competent soldier, warrior, or martial artist would've recognized it immediately as a sort of bloodlust, battle fever, or mild berzerker state. All Moon knew was that her mind was startlingly clear with only a single objective, and in that altered state of clarity, she could do what usually she could not and tapped her birthright without benefit of an artifact. A white glow built around her body and increased until blinding.

- - -

The plane rested comfortably next to the Coliseum in Rome, Italy, although the cockpit had been disintegrated. The pilots were miraculously unharmed, sitting in their seats that were suspended only by the barest of metal struts, but there was no sign of the two hijackers that had been present earlier. There was, however, one more occupant of that compartment, and she lay on the floor.

"Tell..." she began but paused to cough up a large amount of blood. "Tell... my mother... I love her..."

The pilot and co-pilot merely nodded, still stunned, as the light in Tsukino Usagi's eyes faded and her arm fell to the floor, revealing a body riddled with holes.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

The trio found her, lying on her side on the floor in front of a quiescent Time Gate, clutching her staff to her and sobbing uncontrollably. Three pairs of gentle hands lifted the woman to a sitting position, and she blinked through her tears. "What...?"

"Be at ease, child of the Silver Millennium," a brown-haired woman of exquisite beauty cooed to her.

"Yeah! We're here to help!" The second voice belonged to a girl child with long raven tresses that swept the ground. The smallish head of a long-handled mallet jutted incongruously over one shoulder of her white clothing.

"All is not lost, Sailor Pluto." A pearl-haired woman smirked at her, her emerald green eyes glinting and bronzed skin krinkling kindly. "Someone is here to see you, Setsuna."

"What...?" Setsuna blinked in confusion, but the three stepped aside to reveal a nebulous glowing form, a form that coalesced into an apparition of her princess, Neo Serenity. "USAGI!!"

"Hello, my Senshi of Pluto. Yes, it is I, Tsukino Usagi... or what remains of her."

Setsuna was too astounded to process the second part of Usagi's statement. "B-B-But the plane! You died!"

Sadly, Usagi nodded. "Yes, Setsuna, I died, and... I won't be returning this time. I didn't know enough to plan for this, so I won't be coming back."

Falling forward onto her hands again, Setsuna erupted into fresh wails. Usagi glided forward and rested her ethereal hands on Setsuna's head. "Hush, now... As Urd-sama said, all is not lost."

"But without..." She choked a few seconds before continuing. "Without the princess...!!!"

"There, there, Setsuna... The answer is really simple, Pu."

The Senshi of Pluto startled to hear an affectionate name from her princess that she hadn't heard since the fall of the Silver Millennium, ten thousand years earlier. It brought on a fresh bout of tears and wailing.

Usagi let her cry it out before trying to pick up the thread again. "Yes, Pu, I remember everything now." She caressed Setsuna's face, and her voice became joking. "I even remember who taught me the first joys of intimacy so long ago."

"Serenity-sama!" Pluto's face colored, despite her anguish.

Usagi laughed, leaned forward, and kissed Pluto's forehead. "The answer is simple, Pu. Someone else will have to rule in my stead. The main line of Serenity is no more. A new line will arise, and all will be well."

Blinking rapidly, trying to assimilate what she was being told, Setsuna slowly returned to an upright position, regaining some measure of her usual carriage and poise. "I... I see..." She bit her lower lip, thinking. "Maybe... Mercury... She would be a just and wise ruler... Or Venus... People would follow her into hell if she but asked... Maybe—"

"Maybe none of them, Pu," Usagi said gently.

"What?!"

"They are what they are, Pu. They are the Senshi to the Queen, and the blood of the Moon royalty flows in them not. And as the Norns have shown me," she glanced around at her companions, "they would not be at their best as the new princess. It would strain their relationships, and discord would arise, causing our cause to fail utterly. No, Pu, another must be chosen. Someone outside but yet not. Someone the Senshi can look up to. A leader."

"Who, then?"

"The direct line of Serenity is no more, but the blood of the Moon royalty still exists, filtering down among the people of Earth over the millenia, and... sometimes collecting in a person." Usagi paused, glancing again at the Norns. "A... suggestion has been made. I did not like it one bit, at first, and neither will the Inners... or you or the rest of the Outers, but..." She sighed. "The blood of the Moon royalty is strong in this one, and I have seen what this person will become, in time, and I cannot help but give my approval. Once you see, I think your initial reservations will dissolve."

"Who...?"

"The Norns will show you, for I must soon depart. Already I have been delayed too long, but I have a gift that I request that you bestow."

"Anything, my princess! Anything!"

Usagi smiled. "Go to my Senshi and make them remember and know what has happened. Make them know that a new princess has been found, one chosen even by the kami to lead their cause. And... And give them all my love, Pu, and tell them I will wait for them... always."

"Of course, Princess! Oh, Princess..." Setsuna threatened to dissolve into tears again, but Usagi pulled back and cupped her hands in front of her.

A ghostly image of a large, spherical crystal appeared and solidified, floating out of Usagi's hands to Sailor Pluto. "Take the Ginzuishou, Pu, and do not hesitate to bestow it upon my successor. He... She will need to learn it quickly, as you well know, to face what is to come."

"I... I will, my Princess." She missed the gender confusion entirely.

"I must take my leave now, Pu." Already Usagi's form was less distinct, and her voice began to echo as if from a great distance. "Remember my love to all of them... and to yourself." Her image was almost gone. "I will watch over you all..." And then nothing.

Setsuna burst into even stronger wails, cradling the Ginzuishou to her breast. The Norns gathered back around the distraught woman, comforting her but letting her flush the anguish out of her system.

- - -

Nursing a cup of tea provided by the brown-haired Norn, Setsuna brooded by herself, off to one side, while the three sisters conferred.

The pearl-haired woman spoke first. "How do you want to handle this, Bell?"

"Honesty and straightforwardness is the best policy, Urd-oneesan."

"Hit her while she's vulnerable. Got it." Urd nodded sagely.

Belldandy winced. "Well... I suppose that's one way of looking at it..."

The youngest of the three, Skuld, rolled her eyes. "Let's just do it, then."

They all nodded to one another and then walked over to Setsuna.

- - -

Setsuna had spent thirty minutes, subjective time, reviewing the Norns' and Usagi's suggestion in the Time Gate. She then turned and gave the Norns a half-lidded and bland look. "You must be insane..."

Recovering from a flinch, Belldandy gestured back at the Time Gate. "Look again, Setsuna... Look further..."

She did.

And she finally agreed... while smacking her forehead over and over...

* * *

END PROLOGUE


	2. Chapter One

**_Hime_**  
(Princess)

A _Ranma ½—Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon_ Fanfiction  
by  
Sinom Bre

* * *

Chapter One

* * *

Things couldn't have been worse if he'd planned for it to be worse. There he was, minding his own business during a soak in the Tendou furo, when Shampoo abruptly appeared in cat form. She'd paused at the lip of the tub just long enough to freeze him up good and then jumped into the hot water. Now human, she glomped him while he yelled and struggled them out of the tub and onto the floor. The slick rubbing of bodies produced a certain effect on his anatomy, and the catty Joketsuzoku smiled. They finally heard the sound of approaching feet, and Shampoo allowed Ranma to slide out of her grasp to where the aforementioned and rather imposing anatomy was conveniently in front of her face, which she promptly took into her mouth and buried in her throat. Ranma's knees buckled and he landed flat on his back, the sensations at his groin turning him to rubber.

The inner door opened, and he only remembered a blinding blue aura and then pain until he reached the apex of his flight over the Nerima skyline, whereupon the wind on his wet body had chilled him enough to bring him out of his punch-drunkenness and trigger a transformation from male to female, but Ranma didn't even bother to make note of the fact. After over a year of having a Jusenkyou curse, the change hardly merited a grimace anymore. Instead, she tried to judge where she would land. In the nearby park, which was good, and it was looking like she might land in the lake, which was even better. Soft landings were always good.

Yup, the lake, although she took brief and surprised note of five girls standing around the edge of the water, watching her descend. The impact stung like hell, and Ranma grit her teeth and stayed motionless as she slowly floated to the surface. Her head broke into the air, she breathed in, and then made for the nearest shore with smooth strokes. Her audience had gathered in front of her, but this wasn't the first time Ranma'd had to explain how she came to be falling out of the sky, although being nude and female complicated the situation. At least there weren't any guys in this group.

Finally making the shallows, Ranma stood and walked the rest of the way out of the lake. The sensation of water running down her breasts and dripping from the hair between her legs made her shiver for reasons other than the chill. _Damn girl body._ Shortly after the failed wedding, both forms had experienced a growth spurt, gaining about five inches in height (her girl form taller than Akane now) and, if things weren't bad enough, her girl form's chest had gained several inches over the last three months, making her bust the largest in the house by an embarrassingly noticeable margin. But even without a bra, her curse kept those darlings pertly jutting forward as if supported to do so, and if they didn't stop growing really soon, she'd look like one of those anime girls with the massive chests on a petite body. She'd gotten more offers for dates recently than she wanted to think about, and the old freak had been almost intolerable. She'd woken up more than once in the middle of the night to find Happousai rooting around on her chest. She shuddered at the memory, as she finally stepped free of the lake.

Looking around at her audience, she squared her shoulders and opened her mouth to start the explanations, but the middle woman held out a terry-cloth towel to her. Ranma stared at the towel and then looked at the woman, noticing for the first time that her long hair was a forest green color. A nasty suspicion formed in her mind.

"Joketsuzoku?"

The woman smiled and chuckled softly. "No. I have no connection with them." She proffered the towel again, and Ranma took it, slowly drying herself off and looking at the other young women. The towel woman was by far the oldest, looking like she might be in her early to mid-twenties, but the other four couldn't be more than fourteen or so. A strange group. Finished with her drying, Ranma handed the towel back.

"Thanks. Heh, too bad you don't have any—" Ranma blinked. The woman now held out shirt, pants, female underwear and bra, and some slip-ons. Ranma tentatively took the clothing, giving the older woman a beady look. "All right, I'll bite. What's the deal?"

"Put on the clothes and we'll talk. It's rather distracting, otherwise."

Ranma snorted and slipped on the shirt, stopped, took it off, and growled at the bra in her other hand, but since her breasts were already aching from the splashdown, she put it on anyway, slipped the shirt back on, and then tried to button it but kept fumbling. "Hey! The buttons're backwards."

"It's a blouse. Women's clothing button opposite from male clothing."

Ranma stopped attempting to button and glared at the woman. "Gee, thanks."

"If you put on the clothes I'll buy you a nice dinner."

Immediately brightening, Ranma said, "Okay!" In two blinks, she was fully dressed with all the buttons done.

The younger girls' eyes bulged, but the older merely smirked. "This way."

She led them up the walk, the younger girls silently following behind the older pair. They exited the park and walked another ten minutes to a little café not far from Ucchan's. Once settled, the older woman, the apparent leader of their quintet, motioned at Ranma's menu. "Order whatever you like, regardless of the cost."

Ranma glanced over the top of her menu and held the other's red eyes for a long moment before perusing the offers. She ordered five entrées; the younger girls' eyes bulged again, but the older didn't have a hair out of place. The waiter collected the menus and wobbled off, and Ranma settled back in her chair and looked at the others.

"Right," she began, "which one is it?"

Smiling her secret little smile again, the older woman said, "Which one is what?"

Crossing her arms, Ranma scowled. "Come oooon! You stuck me in some threads when I needed some, you're buyin' me some decent grub... You're butterin' me up so I'll be, uh..." She cocked her head, thinking. "Yeah! So I'll be 'better disposed' towards another fiancée. So which one is Number Eight?" She looked at the startled girls again. "Or is it gonna be Eight through Eleven?"

The four younger girls face-faulted, and one of them finally spoke, breaking out of the apprehensiveness Ranma had sensed in them all along. The tallish one with the long black hair that glistened with red highlights shot to her feet. "WHAT?! Fiancée number _eight_?! Get real!! Besides, why in the Eight Worst Hells would I marry a _girl?!_"

Ranma smoldered at the comment, but then her expression lightened and she smirked. "Whassa matter, tall, dark, and leggy? And how do you know you didn't just knock yourself down to number eleven?"

Stunned at the rebuttal, the girl sputtered. "Why, you _arrogant_ little shi—"

"Sit _down_, Rei," the older woman said, cooly but with force.

"B-But, Meiou-san!"

"Rei..."

With painful reluctance, the one known as Rei slowly reclaimed her seat. Meiou-san gave her another look before turning back to Ranma. "I suppose introductions are in order..." Ranma said nothing, and her face showed no expression. "Shall we begin at the end?" Meiou-san went on to say.

The girl seated next to Rei looked up from the book she'd produced from somewhere and blinked. "Oh!" She bowed from her seat. "Mizuno Ami."

Ranma took note that Ami's bodily configuration and hairstyle were similar to Akane's, but Ami had truly blue hair, and Ranma could see that she was a gentle soul.

"Hino Rei," the leggy brunette said stiffly, bowing only slightly. Ranma smirked at her again. This one had a lot of spirit—Ranma could appreciate that quality.

The Meiou woman sat in the middle, but she looked to the girl on her other side to continue.

"Aino Minako. Yoroshiku, ne?" Perky, beautiful blonde, and not a little boy-hungry. Ranma had noticed that she rarely took her eyes off of the males in the establishment.

"Kino Makoto." Very tall, light brunette, and she had the feel of a fighter to Ranma, if not the artist she herself was. An aura of deep depression hung around her, and the flavor of it spoke of a recent loss.

Ranma turned her gaze to the middle woman, who declined to bow and merely tilted her head. "Meiou Setsuna."

"Saotome Ranma." Ranma bowed moderately. "So... Here we are... Which one, Meiou-san? Or which ones, maybe?"

The four girls looked at one another, but Setsuna laughed lightly. "Trust me, Ranma-san. We're not here about a new fiancée for you."

"So you never had any business with my pop?"

"Not... yet," Setsuna said, cryptically.

Ranma arched an eyebrow but let the comment pass, content to maintain her folded arms and expectant gaze. Coming on top of Shampoo's antics in the furo and Akane's opinion of same, these strangers, pretending to have business with her, were rubbing her the wrong way to a degree. Especially this Meiou-san, who had attitude just oozing out of her red eyes. However, a sigh of irritation erupted from Ranma because the food arrived, delaying an explanation. It was probably the first time in her life food had elicited such a response.

"Madam, did you, ah, wish to have your entrées brought out to you one at a time?" the waiter asked.

"No. All at once."

The waiter nodded and left to retrieve the remainder of Ranma's order, which once in place was devoured in typical Saotome fashion. The younger girls looked on in disgust.

"She certainly eats like Odango Atama," Rei caustically observed. The other three stopped eating and stared at her, and Rei lowered her head. "Gomen," she said, sadly, and returned to her meal.

Already finished, Ranma stared at all the girls while twirling a chopstick in each hand in a casual display of almost inhuman speed and dexterity. It made everyone but Setsuna nervous, and they ate faster as a result.

"Now," Ranma said after the last dish had been removed, crossing her arms again, "it feels like there's a size four-hunnert shoe waitin' ta drop. Care ta tell me why?"

The younger four looked as one to Setsuna, but she merely produced a wooden box and carefully slid it across the table with her fingertips to Ranma. Morbidly fascinated, Ranma watched the box during its slow transit and little-sweated, feeling the heat of some undesirable fate hanging over her head like a flaming sword. She looked up at Setsuna from underneath the puff of scarlet bangs hanging low over her forehead, once it had stopped in front of her.

Setsuna inclined her head forward, and Ranma took it to mean that she should open it. Flicking her eyes back down to the box, she carefully examined the item. It was unadorned, save for hinges and a simple latch, and the break between the lid and the body of the box was beveled, making for easy opening.

Ranma carefully placed the tip of her right index finger under the latch, paused, and then flipped it up quickly with an audible slap of the hasp. The four younger women around the table jumped, and Ranma glanced at them with a crooked smile and an irritating chuckle from low in her throat. Rei glared fiercely at her, and Ranma couldn't refrain from winking at her. In a smoothly quick movement, she pushed the lid up and back, startling the quartet a second time. Still chuckling, she looked inside.

A faceted sphere of glass, or what she thought to be glass, twinkled up at her from a circular red velvet depression in the center of a red velvet heart surrounded by black velvet. After a few more seconds of examination, Ranma reached in, picked up the sphere, and held it up to her face, rolling it to and fro with her fingers.

Unnoticed by the rest, Setsuna breathed again in relief.

Ranma pursed her lips. "Well," she began, "it's, uh... nice... I guess..." She cocked an eyebrow at Setsuna. "But really... you shouldn't have... Kind of a girly thing." She glanced into the box a second time. "And I don't do hearts... _Way_ too girly for me."

Once again, Rei had had enough. She shot to her feet and slammed her hands on the table. "If it was good enough for Usagi, it's _more_ than good enough for the likes of _you!!_" Her lower lip trembled, and points of light shone from the rims of her lower eyelids.

"Rei!" Setsuna chided.

The Hino girl's obvious upset baffled Ranma, but then her mouth drew a thin line, and she casually tossed the crystal back into its place inside the box. "Right. Whatever. I'm outta here." She stood. "Thanks for the grub... and the clothes, but I don't need this crap tonight." Ranma tried to stuff her hands into pockets that didn't exist on female slacks, cursed aloud, and then stalked across the restaurant.

She heard someone's chair scrape back and Setsuna's voice say, "You four go home! And _pray_ that I can salvage this, Rei! I..." but Ranma couldn't make out any more, although she heard Setsuna's voice soften in tone.

- - -

"You four go home! And _pray_ that I can salvage this, Rei! I..." Trailing off, Setsuna forced herself to calm down. "Look, we all miss Usagi terribly, but for you, Rei... I understand that you lost an important part of yourself when she... passed on. Try to remember what we are about." Giving Rei a sympathetic look, she grabbed the box, closed it, and walked across the restaurant, hoping to catch Ranma before that one took off across the rooftops.

And she almost ran over the redhead, who waited for her just outside the café. Once more, she cursed the fold in the fabric of time that had hidden Usagi's death from her and now hid so many important details of this first meeting with her possible replacement. The effect was finally tapering off, but there were still conspicuous passages in which she truly operated blind... like now. It hadn't helped that her future self had merely said to _be_ herself and follow her heart. She patted her chest, unused to being startled so many times in a row over such a short period.

"I heard some of what you said to them," Ranma began. "Just what is it that you're praying to salvage, Meiou-san? I mean, thanks again for the clothes and grub, but it doesn't seem to be enough for all this serious, um... _attitude_ you girls have. So what's up? And how come you seem to know me when I never clapped eyes on you in my life?"

Moderately poised again, Setsuna crossed her arms. "This is your area. Is there a place where we wouldn't be disturbed? Even if things became... unusual?"

Ranma turned her head slightly and regarded Setsuna with one eye. "Unusual, huh? Figures... Follow me."

Taking off without any regard for his companion, Ranma ran for a block-and-a-half and then took to the rooftops. She looked over her shoulder once to see Setsuna right behind. Raising an eyebrow at the incongruous image of a woman dressed to the nines hopping across the skyline, Ranma continued to lead until they reached the area park, at which point Ranma touched down and jogged into the main entrance. Two hundred meters in she leapt into a tall tree and flitted from branch to branch before alighting in a small clearing surrounded by dense brush.

Setsuna landed lightly beside her, and Ranma quirked a half grin. "Not bad, Meiou-san. Did some training, I see."

The older woman opened her mouth, apparently ready to toss off a casually cryptic remark, but she stopped for a second. "Normally... I would say 'You have no idea', but _you_ would probably understand all too well."

Ranma crossed her arms underneath her breasts, huffed, and glared. "There you go again, acting like you know all about me!"

Again reminded of how she hated flying blind, Setsuna refrained from gritting her teeth and pasted a wan smile on her face—too much rode on this to allow her to vent on this person. "You could say that I do know all about you, Saotome-san, but I beg the chance to explain that after other matters have been made clear. You might not believe me, otherwise."

The redhead considered that for a second and then slowly nodded. Setsuna took out the small spherical crystal again and held it out. Ranma rolled her eyes, took the crystal, and then rolled it around inside her hand. "What's the big deal with this thing, anyway? Is it supposed to split open and hang a banner, sayin' 'Congrats! You're our Millionth Customer!'?"

Her patience ground to a fine dust, Setsuna finally did grit her teeth. "Damn it, I don't _know!_ I was never schooled in how to use the Ginzuishou!" She gestured helplessly. "I... I'd _hoped_ it would react to you... or something..." Her arms gestured aimlessly a couple of times before she sighed and sat down on a convenient fallen tree trunk. "I just don't know..." she whispered.

Ranma took in and let out an audible deep breath, and Setsuna might have sympathized with the girl's obvious confusion if she weren't so unnerved by not knowing what was going to happen next. She watched Ranma look at the Ginzuishou again, hold it up in front of one eye, and then tilt back so that she was probably looking at the full moon through it. An ironic choice of light source, Setsuna thought. The crystal sparkled in the austere light, but nothing more, and Ranma sighed and lowered her hand.

"Maybe if you told me just what this thing is in the first place...?"

The sound of the night insects at Setsuna's back rose and swelled with a slight breeze, and she put her palms down on the log and leaned back, considering her words. "The Ginzuishou is... a power source, and only the members of a certain bloodline can use it to its fullest extent. Others can use it but only to varying degrees."

"And I guess I'm supposed to be part of this bloodline? Is that why you were here to see me?"

Crossing her legs, Setsuna cupped her chin in one hand while resting her elbow on the higher knee. "Most people on Earth have some of that blood in them, but it has collected most strongly in you, or so the, ah, individuals who have the ability to know have said."

"Huh... Go figure." Ranma held the crystal up to her eye again. "A power source, hey? I wonder..."

Gathering a small amount of ki in the hand holding the Ginzuishou, she carefully pushed it into the crystal.

"What are you doing?" Setsuna asked. She thought she might've imagined a brief glow on the hand holding the Ginzuishou, and it alarmed her.

"What? You wanted it to do something, yes? So I'm trying!" Ranma pushed her ki a little harder into the crystal.

"Um—" but Setsuna didn't have a chance to continue because the Ginzuishou pushed back.

White energy erupted from the crystal in the form of countless tendrils of crawling lightning. The muscles in Ranma's hand locked around the jewel in response, and she couldn't release it. The energy crawled all over her body, searing her clothing and blistering her skin. Ranma screamed, but to her relief and Setsuna's surprise, the Ginzuishou stopped attacking and then went through five seconds of rainbow beams shooting out in all directions. It looked familiar to Setsuna from the many times she'd watched Usagi activate the crystal.

The multicolor light show ceased and a steady white glow of a different quality arose, leaking out from around the cradle formed by the charred fingers of Ranma's hand. The glow spread down her arm and over the rest of her body. The fingers gradually relaxed, and the Ginzuishiou floated free to hover just in front of Ranma's face. Setsuna watched, amazed, as the crystal healed the injuries it had caused until the redhead was whole again, although her clothing remained almost burnt off of her body. The healing aura receded, and the Ginzuishou rotated first one way and then the other before stopping and shining a thin golden beam down onto the now unconscious Ranma's forehead. Ranma stiffened, and her eyes moved behind her eyelids rapidly.

Setsuna wondered what went on in the girl's mind—as always, she hated being out of the loop—but her eyes widened when an upside down golden crescent moon began to shine outward from the skin where the beam from the Ginzuishou touched.

The Senshi of Pluto broke down and cried.

- - -

For the second time that day, Ranma experienced pain, but this seared right down to her soul. When it abruptly stopped, she felt naked and vulnerable, and she wept uncontrollably.

Long, slender white arms encircled her nude form, and Ranma turned her face into the other woman's bosom. Comfort and love flowed like an unstoppable tide from the woman, and Ranma found herself relaxing as the last of her tears ran down her face.

Eventually, Ranma pulled away and looked up into the blue eyes of a beautiful, delicate woman with silvery hair. Two small odango sat towards the rear of her head with long ponytails descending from them. A golden crescent moon shone on her forehead in the strange, harsh light. Blinking from that light, Ranma now looked around. Ancient ruins stretched almost as far as the eye could see in any direction. She and the woman sat in the middle of what appeared to have once been a grand mall, lined on either side by tall columns, most toppled. One still stood, topped with what looked like a gravy boat, but it didn't engender amusement at all.

"What a dreary place..." Ranma said, her voice hushed.

The woman still lightly holding her in her arms sighed. "Ah, but once... Once, it was one of the most beautiful in the solar system. People from all over the galaxy came to walk its famed gardens and dance in its fabled courts."

"Huh... So what happened?"

"A great evil arose..." she said sadly, and Ranma turned back and peered up into the woman's eyes. "Yes... A great evil... long ago."

Ranma looked around again and then glanced up at the large moon that had been shining down on them. She blanched when she realized at just what she was looking. "That, uh... That wouldn't be... would it...?"

"Yes, child, that is Earth... Once the seat of that great evil."

"Weird..." Ranma squinched her eyebrows together. "I never heard about anything like that. We didn't read about it in class. Was it on the news?"

The woman chuckled, forcing Ranma to look at her again. She really was beautiful, Ranma thought, but it was a kind of beauty out of her experience and for which she couldn't find words.

"No, child, this occurred long before your written history."

"Oh."

The woman sighed, taking in a deep breath and letting it out slowly. "Yes, it truly was beautiful, but all things pass in their time, it is said, and the Silver Millennium did so over ten thousand years ago." She smiled down at Ranma, and her eyes shone. "In truth, we are merely in a shared space created by the Ginzuishou to resemble the moon. I am the spirit of the last Queen Serenity of the Moon Kingdom. In that long ago time, child, a great evil awoke, corrupted much of the Earth's population, and armies of the Dark Kingdom descended upon the moon and the other planetary civilizations and destroyed them.

"Using the Ginzuishou, I sent my daughter and the Sailor Senshi forward to be reborn in the future in the hopes that they could find the normal, happy lives denied them here. But alas... Events and old enemies caught up with them, and my daughter... the future Queen Serenity of Crystal Tokyo... sacrificed her life for the lives of others." A lone tear tracked down her face, and she lost herself in her reverie for a short time.

She finally looked at Ranma again and smiled, although this smile held little warmth and comfort. "Just words, though, to you, right? To understand, to know, to _feel_ the truth of it, you will have to remember what the Ginzuishou remembers." Her voice hardened. "You _must_ know the truth of it!"

Ranma started leaning away from the woman, ready to bolt. "Hey, now wait! I never said I was gonna—" But the world abruptly disappeared.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

"Honestly!"

"Now, Akane..." Tendou Soun wheedled, "I'm sure Ranma-kun didn't _mean_ to... to..." Soun's face reddened, and a long tongue snaked out of his mouth. "...didn't _mean_ to CHEAT on you!! SAOTOME-KUN!! WHY DOES YOUR SON CAVORT WITH FLOOZIES?!?!"

Genma had found water—a common occurrence when the tides of blame begin to flow his way—and his panda form quailed beneath his friend's full demon head attack. He shakily raised a sign. _"The schools!! The schools!!"_

"RIGHT!! THE SCHOOLS!! RANMA-KUUUUUUUUNNNNNN!!!" Lost in his anger at the usual target, Soun wandered aimlessly around the tearoom.

The panda heaved a sigh of relief and sneaked out of the tearoom when Akane and Soun were both looking in a different direction. He didn't, however, leave unnoticed.

Tendou Nabiki, the middle of Soun's three daughters, blew air over her upper lip in exasperation at the scene and retreated from her position in the hallway to enter the kitchen. Her older sister, Kasumi, looked up from her dinner clean up and smiled and nodded at her sister in welcome.

"Ranma-kun didn't make it back for supper," Nabiki observed. "Not like him." She leaned her bottom against the counter edge next to where Kasumi worked.

"He must have run into one of his little friends and is out having fun."

"Oneechan," Nabiki said dryly, "it was one of his 'little friends' that started all this upset by trying to swallow whole his most manly part... as it were." Nabiki giggled at the blush she'd earned from her elder sister, but she chose not to draw further attention to it. "I sometimes wonder what keeps Ranma-kun here..."

Kasumi looked at her again. "Why, he and Akane love each other, Nabiki-chan, and he values the honor of the pact our fathers made! Of course he's still here!"

"I guess..." Nabiki chewed her lower lip for a few seconds. "Still... Everyone has their limit, Oneechan."

Kasumi's expression clouded. "What do you mean?"

"What I mean is that it may come to pass that the pain of dishonoring the marriage pact becomes significantly less than the pain of trying to save it."

Kasumi had no immediate answer, so the two sisters fell quiet, each lost in their own thoughts and only occasionally brought out of them by the ongoing ruckus in the tearoom.

"Well," Kasumi eventually said, "if it comes to that pass, I, er... That is, no one said..." She worried her lower lip, clearly unhappy with what she was about to utter. "No one said," she stated with a shaky new confidence, "that he had to marry a _specific_ Tendou."

Nabiki had already figured out what Kasumi was trying to say, and she graced her older sister with a half-lidded glare. "Since I _know_ nobody wants it be _me_, you must be talking about yourself. Really, Oneechan... You and Ranma-kun?"

"It would preserve our honor," Kasumi said stiffly.

Nabiki snorted. "_Preserve_ our honor? Let's examine that for a minute, Oneechan. If a Tendou _does_ marry Ranma-kun, the Saotome honor becomes our honor. Do you really think Saotome-'jisan is going to ever stop dragging the Saotome name through the mud? I mean, what more happened on that trip that just hasn't caught up with him yet?"

Kasumi said nothing, as she slowly washed dishes.

"Much as it rankles for that reason," Nabiki continued without much of a pause, "Ranma and Akane were made for each other, but they're both too young for this... this _pressure_. If our idiot fathers had waited even just another two years, it probably would've gone a hell of a lot smoother than it has, but now there's maybe too much water under the bridge, and they both have such a problem communicating just basic things that their relationship could end—just like that!" Nabiki snapped her fingers for added emphasis. "Think _hard_ about what to do if... Bah! _When_ it ends... I've already made up my mind. You might want to make up yours."

Nabiki pulled away from the counter and waved lazily, as she sauntered out of the kitchen.

Merely continuing her chores, Kasumi thought about all that Nabiki had said, but a secret smile slowly formed. "You make one faulty assumption, Nabiki-chan," she whispered to herself. "You assume that Ranma-kun wouldn't be worth it."

She stopped washing, tilted her head back, closed her eyes, and sighed. "You are _much_ too young for those kind of regrets, Tendou Kasumi..." Bringing her head forward again, she considered the rice bowl in her hands, wondering how many times she'd washed that particular item in her life.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

A birth that wasn't hers. A childhood she didn't experience. A love for an older man she'd never laid eyes upon. Legions of demons streaming from the Earth to her home, the Moon. And then... Death.

And a second birth and a second time around. Of friends, fellow warriors found. Of a fight and magic at the North Pole. And a second death.

An airplane. Anger. And death for the third and final time.

The green-haired Meiou-san in a misty place with three other women. A crystal.

And then nothing... ever again.

A voice spoke from seemingly everywhere in the gray void in which Ranma floated. "Knowst thou, then, the lives of mine only daughter and her sacrifices for all that be right. Knowst thou, then, the Ginzuishou be the Talisman of the Queen of the Moon and her successors."

The woman from the moon appeared before her. "Learn it well for what thou must face. Learn it well for a Fate thou must choose lest it choose thee. Learn... and Live... and Love... and, I beg of thee, make worthwhile the sacrifices that have gone before." She reached out and cupped Ranma's left cheek. "Mayhap, we shall meet again. Fare thee well, future Queen..." The image smiled a little crookedly. "...or King."

- - -

The beam from the Ginzuishou abruptly ceased, although the golden crescent moon on Ranma's forehead continued to shine for another ten seconds or so before fading and disappearing also. The crystal slowly floated down to nestle at the top of Ranma's cleavage.

Setsuna stood and walked over, carefully checking with her eyes for any sign of unhealed injury. She took distant note that Ranma's red hair had come undone from its pigtail and was very long, longer than maybe it should've been, and it settle around her, a violent riot of fiery curls.

"I suppose the only thing missing from our lineup was a redhead," she said aloud, smirking down at the slumbering girl.

Satisfied that Ranma retained no hurt from the crystal's attack, she leaned over and looked into the girl's face. A few seconds later, Ranma's eyes blinked rapidly several times and slowly focused on Setsuna's face.

"AAAAAH!!" Ranma was instantly on the other side of the small clearing, clutching the Ginzuishou in one hand and her left breast in the other. "Don't _do_ that!!"

The almost-translocation that Ranma had performed had buffeted Setsuna's clothing and left her blinking at an after-image, but once her brain restarted, she turned and looked at Ranma in time to see the mostly burned clothing give up the ghost and drift in charred wisps to the ground, including a brand new bra and panties.

Ranma blinked stupidly down at her naked body and then scowled. "Oh, just freakin' _wonder_-ful!"

Setsuna burst into laughter and soon had to clutch her sides because it wouldn't stop. There had just been too many intense moments, one right atop another, over the last several days, and she was caught off-guard when her psyche decided enough was enough and forced her to drain away the tension with, in this case, hysterical laughter.

If Ranma had been at all miffed, she didn't show it by the time Setsuna had calmed down enough to take note. In fact, Ranma was smiling at her from where she leaned against a slim tree trunk, one ankle crossed over the other and her arms crossed underneath her impressive bosom. The moonlight made her fairish skin gleam.

"Feeling better, Pu?" Ranma lazily asked, amused calm radiating from her.

"Heh. Yes, thank you. I- I- What did you just call me?!"

Ranma smirked at her. "What all your friends called you back in the Silver Millennium." Her smirk faltered. "Although I suppose I'm not really your friend yet, am I..."

"How... How did—"

"This told me... sorta." She held up the Ginzuishou, cradling it with her fingertips. "This thing, um... records... yeah, records the memories and... maybe some of the knowledge of its owners. I lived Usagi-san's life from her memories, both here and back on the moon." Ranma frowned.

Setsuna stared. "I... _see_. That was unexpected."

"Usagi-san's okaasan was in there too. She talked to me for a little bit." The frown turned to a scowl, as if she remembered something that made her intensely angry, but suddenly, all Ranma could see were red-pupiled eyes.

"You saw Serenity-sama?!"

"Um, yeah..."

"What did she say?!"

"Um... Er... Stuff about demons and the end of the moon kingdom. Fate and Destiny and all that kinda thing... Er..."

Searching one blue eye and then another, Setsuna asked in a tight voice, " Did... Did she say that she was agreeable with you as Usagi's replacement?!"

Ranma turned away, uncomfortable. "Look, I dunno what—"

"Please... Please tell me..." Setsuna interrupted in a miserable whisper.

Ranma rolled her eyes and sighed. "She, ah... She... begged me to make, um, Usagi-san's sacrifice worthwhile... ta make her death mean somethin'..." Ranma's scowl returned. "Not that she gave me a choice about it..." she said under her breath.

Setsuna released her and slowly fell to her knees. "She... begged you..." And she began to cry again.

"Aw, man!" Ranma flapped her arms and shifted from foot to foot, causing her body to jiggle and bounce. "Don't cry! Please! I hate it when girls cry! Aw, MAAAN!!"

Now giggling in between sobs, Setsuna started hiccuping. "God, I'm HIC! a mess... Would you HIC! stop that?!"

"BOO!!"

"WAAACK!!" Setsuna fell onto her bottom. "What the _hell_ did HIC! you do that for?! HIC!"

Ranma smacked the bottom of her fist into the palm of the other hand. "Damn! I thought I might scare 'em out of ya..."

"... Oh." She started giggling again amidst the hiccups.

"Gah. You're gettin' punch drunk for lack of air. Come on..." Ranma held out her hand, and Setsuna took it and was hoisted up, but before she could blink, they were airborne and flitting through the trees.

"I could HIC! do this myself, you know..."

"Uh-huh. I can just see it now. Got one foot out, ready for a perfect landin' on a tree limb, HIC! and now you're tryin' to figure out how you got yourself wrapped around the trunk. Does wonders for fancy threads like you're wearin'..."

"Well... Perhaps you have a HIC! ... Never mind."

Ranma looked down at her and grinned before turning back to the task at hand. It was an odd grin to see on a woman's face, and it was then that she was abruptly reminded that there was a man inside this woman carrying her through the treetops and that 'his' grin should probably be construed as rakish. It then occurred to her that 'he' was being very gentlemanly in 'his' own rough way, by carrying her so that she wouldn't hurt herself. Her cheeks tinged pink, and she turned and watched the nighttime treetops fly by. _Funny how little of a beating it takes to crumble a thousand years of composure,_ she wryly thought, but she decided to go ahead and enjoy the heightened sense of womanliness she currently experienced.

"Er... What are you going to do about clothing?" Setsuna asked.

If a hand had been free, Ranma would've smacked her forehead. "I dunno. Got any ideas?'

"Yes. Set us down."

They made the main path through the park, and Setsuna motioned Ranma behind a clump of bushes, whereupon she proceeded to strip out of her clothing.

Ranma couldn't hold off a full blush.. "Uh... No offence, but what are _you_ gonna do for clothes?" she husked.

Setsuna handed her the blouse, outer coat, and skirt, but kept the panties and bra. She paused, smirking at Ranma's state of embarrassment, and said, "Not a problem. Watch."

Ranma jumped back, as dark energy swirled around the woman for a few seconds and then departed, leaving Setsuna garbed in something resembling a body-suit version of a schoolgirl uniform with a very short skirt. A large staff faded into the grip of her right hand.

"Uh..."

"This is the Sailor Senshi's battle costume, although the color scheme is different for each planetary senshi."

"Huh." Still holding Setsuna's clothes, Ranma did a slow circuit of the sailor-suited warrior.

Setsuna allowed the examination, seeing as how she only naturally expected Ranma to wear the same.

Ranma completed the circuit and faced Setsuna, blue eyes locking with red. A long pause. "... Ecchi."

Sailor Pluto teetered forward, arms windmilling, as she almost face-faulted. "You can say that, standing there in your birthday suit?!"

The redhead grinned and then scowled. "You do NOT honestly expect me ta wear that kinda getup, do you?"

"But it's what all the senshi wear!" Setsuna protested. "Besides, it can't be changed," she finished in a firm tone.

Eyes narrowed, Ranma stared at Setsuna, looked next at the Ginzuishou, and then peered off into space, eyes flicking back-and-forth. "Whatever you say, Meiou-san. Whatever you say..." She turned to face her companion. "Do ya need me ta walk you somewhere?"

Puzzled at the sudden acceptance, Setsuna shook her tilted head. "No... Thank you. I can teleport wherever I want to go."

Red eyebrows went up. "Cool. Can I do that?"

"Errr... I don't know..." She waved off the question. "But that's not important. I think we need to schedule several social meetings over the next week to give you and the other girls time to get to know one another, and you should really think about relocating to Juuban so as to be closer to—"

"Hey! Whoa! Hold on there!"

"... What?"

"What?! Gah!" Ranma cocked her fists on her hips, Setsuna's clothing sliding down to catch at that point on her left side. "Look, I'm gonna help, see? I mean, I know what's happened and I know you guys need someone with this moon blood or whatever, but that's _all_. I don't care what some old moon lady wants. I got loads on my plate right here already, so I ain't movin' ta Juuban anytime soon. And I ain't decided nothin' about bein' no..." She shuddered. "..._queen_ or whatever, I don't care whose memories are knockin' around in my gourd. Got it? Good!" She then proceeded to dress, her hands shaking.

Setsuna gaped for a moment and then mentally retreated to regroup and reassess. "What about the socials?"

Ranma shimmied the skirt up her legs. "Um... You gotta phone number? Best I can do is give you maybe an hour's notice when I can. Sorry, but you got no idea how nuts things get around here."

"And how are you supposed to make it to Juuban in time when there's trouble?"

"I guess you better come get me, right? You can do that telefort thingie, right?"

Pinching the bridge of her nose, Setsuna mentally groaned. She'd hoped to get the new princess integrated so that she could retreat back to the Time Gate and wait until she was truly needed. However, Ranma was derailing those plans before they even left the station. "That's tele-_port_... with a 'p'..."

"Oh... Well, whatever. That'll work, right?" Ranma tugged and pulled the clothing. "Man, why is it these things are always too tight?"

Setsuna dropped her hand and glared at Ranma. "Well, excuse us all for not having D-cups." She wanted to swear at herself for even responding to that comment.

"Hmph! Want 'em? You can have 'em!"

Why was it that she kept getting off-track in this conversation? Setsuna felt like scrubbing her hair with her sharp fingernails. "Look, never mind about that, Ranma-san. We've got to get you working with the other Inner Scouts, getting to know them."

"Inner Scouts? Are there Outer ones?"

"Of course! I'm one of them! ... Can we stay on topic and focus?!" Setsuna panted.

Ranma blinked at her. "Whaddya gettin' all worked up about? Why're ya mad at _me?_ ... So you're gonna do that teleport thingie and come get me when ya need me?"

"I, er... I suppose I could until—"

"Great! I gotta go, Meiou-san. Pretty soon they'll have the whole ward lookin' for me and whatever bimbo I'm supposed to be with."

Ranma was visibly sweating for some reason, Setsuna absently noticed, but she tried to think of a way to convince Ranma and only some of her words filtered in and stuck. "Did you just call me a... 'bimbo'?"

"Eh? No, they will."

"... Who will?"

"Whoever."

"..."

"Well, thanks again for the clothes. Do you need me to walk you some—Ah! Ha! Ha! No, you can tele... port. Look, I _really_ have ta go!" Ranma waved and started to jog away.

"Wait! Call me tomorrow!" Setsuna hurried up to her and shoved a business card in her hand. "Call. We must _all_ meet!"

"Right, right! I'll call! Ja!" The redhead was just suddenly... not there.

Setsuna stared off into the darkness, wondering how Ranma went from so calm right after communing with the Ginzuishou to nearly jumping out of her skin just now. She shrugged, filing it away for future investigation, and lifted the Time Key. Now in her room in a house she shared with two other Outer Senshi, she let go of her transformed state and fell back onto the bed, again in only panties and a bra. She stared up at the ceiling. "That... could've gone a _lot_ better."

"And it could've gone a lot worse," an all-too-familiar voice answered, "worse than you would believe."

She sat up and glared balefully at her future self, leaning against the closed door to her bedroom. "Did you just come here to taunt me again or do you have something useful to say?"

"I certainly came to taunt you, because if I didn't it would cause a paradox, since I clearly remember being taunted by me at this time. A paradox is _baaad_... as you should recall." Future smirked.

Setsuna flopped back onto the bed. "Oh, take your humor and go to hell! I've had a bad week."

"I remember." Future walked over such that the current version of herself could see her face. "You did good, Setsuna. Really good... Better even than you can be allowed to know."

The current Senshi of Pluto blew air out of her mouth noisily. "Thanks, I guess..." She smiled slightly. "She's a firecracker, that one."

Future laughed, "Very true," but the humor quickly disappeared. "He is also going to suffer for some time to come, thanks to Serenity." She ignored the questioning look from her modern counterpart and strode to the window, looking out over the nighttime city. "You'll need to be there for him, to help him, Setsuna. Besides coping with the fact that Usagi is gone, the Inners just aren't quite mature enough to handle this particular difficulty of his without possibly causing more damage. And, of course, there are all the pre-existing problems he's saddled with. If he doesn't have someone he trusts to give him the straight and dirty truth when he needs it, the two separate aspects of his life will pull him apart. Stay close to him."

"Stay _close_ to him? What are you suggesting? I'm not going to be his mother!"

Future looked at her blandly. "Did I say you should mother him? No." She crossed her arms. "Be his _friend_. God knows he could use one... a _real_ one... So could _you_, for that matter."

"Oh, please!" Setsuna rolled off the bed and stood with her back turned. "I don't have time for that!"

"Funny... I thought we had all the time in the world..." Future's voice trailed away to nothing.

Setsuna whirled around, but as she expected, she now found herself alone. "Damn..." Hugging herself, she too her future self's former position at the window. A screech of feminine laughter filtered in from Haruka and Michiru's room, and Setsuna hugged herself tighter.

"I _have_ friends..." She shivered; the room was cold.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

One side of the wall that surrounded the Tendou compound faced a similar wall of a neighboring lot. A redheaded young woman wearing expensive, ill-fitting clothing squatted in the small alley between the two walls. She rocked back and forth, hugging herself tightly.

"No... No... No..." He eyes squeezed together, tears leaking from the corners. "Get outta my head! ... No... I am _Ranma! Ranma!_ ... Damn moon bitch..."

She huddled more tightly into herself. "Oh, God, they all died..." She began to sob.

The full moon broke over the top of the far wall, and the sharp edge of silver light crept down the Tendou wall.

"Rei-chan, Mina-chan, Mako-chan, Ami-chan... Oh, God, you're all alive..."

* * *

END HIME 01


End file.
